With Gore, it was class. With Trump, it’s all gas | Opinion

As Donald Trump calls for anarchy if he loses, contrast his demagoguery with the patriotism Al Gore displayed when he lost but actually had a credible claim that the system was "rigged."

It was mid-December 2000. The U.S. Supreme Court had halted Florida's ballot recount, effectively declaring George W. Bush president-elect. During the five weeks of the recount, Gore had faced a state political structure led by his opponent's brother and had lost every key ruling.

Then a Supreme Court majority of Republican appointees ignored its preference for states' rights and stopped Florida's attempt to resolve the dispute by counting all legal ballots. Former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who was in that majority, expressed regret 13 years later that the court even took up Bush v. Gore.

Oh, and Gore had won the popular vote. And as president of the Senate, he had to ratify the vote of the Electoral College.

Yet on Dec. 13, Gore said: "Let there be no doubt, while I strongly disagree with the court's decision, I accept it. I accept the finality of this outcome, which will be ratified next Monday in the Electoral College. And tonight, for the sake of our unity of the people and the strength of our democracy, I offer my concession."

One might argue that Gore had no choice but to concede. Legal scholars, however, have noted Gore could have asked the Florida Supreme Court to resolve the due-process issue the U.S. Supreme Court used as its excuse for stopping a relatively smooth recount of potential undervotes. Counties were using different standards.

In the most extreme case, Gore could have used that Senate presidency to challenge Florida's electoral votes or tried to get the decision into the House of Representatives. Either option, however, might have provoked a constitutional crisis.

Instead, Gore said: "I know that many of my supporters are disappointed. I am too. But our disappointment must be overcome by our love of country."

Then there's Trump, who, with his poll numbers dropping, has warned of a "stolen" election because of a supposed conspiracy against him. He is feeding the myth that voter fraud is widespread — a myth especially prevalent among Republicans.

To these conspiracy theorists, it doesn't matter that the Government Accountability Office found no evidence of "in-person voter impersonation" anywhere in the country between 2004 and 2014. Trump, like his enablers in right-wing media, attacks the credibility of institutions, especially those within government. Trump also called the monthly unemployment report a "hoax." As with his claim of election fraud, he has no evidence.

Yet Gore surely knew when he conceded that he should have been president-elect. Multiple news reports later confirmed if the votes of all Floridians who intended to vote for Gore on Nov. 7, 2000 — there was no early voting yet — had been recorded, Gore would have carried the state. Ballot confusion in Palm Beach and Duval counties caused the presidency to be decided on a fluke.

But with Trump ranting about a "stolen" election, let's also note that George W. Bush did not "steal" the 2000 election in Florida, as some Democrats still contend. Though his campaign threw elbows — supporters shouted down a recount in Miami-Dade County — they did nothing illegal between Election Day and Gore's concession.

Yet they did something illegal earlier. Republican operatives corrected absentee ballot applications in Martin and Seminole counties that otherwise would have been invalid. Only the voter can fill out the application. The elections supervisors, both of them Republicans, could have been prosecuted. They weren't.

Democrats — not Gore — sued, asking judges to throw out all absentee ballots in both counties. Correctly, the judges ruled otherwise. Doing so would have meant discarding legal ballots.

One final note: If Gore had been ahead, and Democrats had controlled state politics, Bush would have lost every key decision. The parties would have reversed roles for the recount.

Despite knowing he should have won, Gore never questioned the legitimacy of Bush's presidency, as Trump is trying to do already with Hillary Clinton. When Trump's Atlantic City casinos tanked, his investors lost big but Trump profited. If Trump loses his bid for the presidency, he wants to take American democracy down with him.

Randy Schultz is the former editorial page editor of The Palm Beach Post. He also blogs for Boca Raton Magazine. His email address is randy@bocamag.com